Roads for 9 unfinished Homer Glen subdivision still an issue

Plowing unfinished roads can be a problem, officials and residents say

October 17, 2012|By Ginger Reilly

Robert Michet, of the 15200 block of south MacKenzie Drive in the unfinished Cypress Pointe subdivision, returned for his second meeting in a row to express his concerns about unfinished roads and other needed improvements. 'I was just hoping you guys could come up with a plan for us and the other subdivisions,' Michet said during public comment at the Oct. 9 meeting. (Ginger Reilly, Chicago Tribune)

Homer Glen officials recently agreed that completing the roads in unfinished subdivisions will be a priority so that residents there can get their roads plowed this winter.

"We don't need to sit here and beat a dead horse to death," Trustee Michael Costa said at a recent village board workshop. "We need the roads done."

A major issue with plowing unfinished roads is drainage structures protrude from the ground and can snag a plow and damage its equipment, according to Michael Salamowicz, Homer Glen's director of Development Services.

"Nobody's plowing these things; no one wants to plow them because they don't have the final lifts on them," Mayor Jim Daley said at the Oct. 9 workshop.

At the village board meeting prior to the workshop, Robert Michet, of the 15200 block of South MacKenzie Drive in the unfinished Cypress Pointe subdivision, returned for his second meeting in a row to express his concerns.

"I was just hoping you guys could come up with a plan for us and the other subdivisions," Michet said during public comment.

There is no letter of credit for the unfinished subdivisions, which happened under a previous mayor and previous village manager. The oversight was a "gross mistake on behalf of the village," Mayor Jim Daley said at the workshop.

The Cedar Pointe subdivision currently needs road, curb and gutter improvements estimated at $62,000, and additional work to complete the subdivision in the near future is estimated to cost $345,495, according to study results presented at the workshop.

In the spring, the village authorized an inspection study of the nine unfinished subdivisions — which lack a letter of credit or have an expired letter of credit. Construction engineer Matt Abbeduto of HR Green, which conducted the study, presented the findings.

The study determined it would cost more than $6.6 million to finish work on the nine subdivisions, according to a meeting agenda supplement. The majority of them need a final roadway surface, patching, sidewalk and curb repairs, and they have storm water issues. Most are less than 50 percent occupied, the study revealed.

It would cost more than $1.9 million to finish one subdivision, Glenview Walk Estates, the study found. Close behind is Stonebridge Woods, with more than $1.4 million in needed improvements to complete the subdivision, according to estimates.

While village officials agreed that completing most of the roads so that the village could have them plowed would be a priority, they said finishing the roads in all the subdivisions may not be something the village takes on. Trustee Marcia De Vivo stated that she did not think the village should feel obligated to take on responsibility for roadway completion in King Drive, a private subdivision, and Black Rock Estates, where she said only the builder lives.

Daley said that not all of the "bells and whistles" are necessary right now.

"Nobody is saying that the village is obligating itself, or suggesting obligating itself, to the entire amounts of improvements," Daley said at the workshop.

Typically, a subdivision is completed, inspected by the village, and then final tweaks taken care of by the developer before the roads are handed over to the care of the village, Salamowicz said. The nine subdivisions, however, were never completed, abandoned by developers for various reasons, officials said.

"We're talking to a ghost, there's nobody there," Daley said at the workshop.

Unfinished subdivisions impede the ability of property owners to sell and also hinder buying, officials have said. "The homes in a situation like this are basically unsellable," Daley said at the workshop.

Village Manager Cameron Davis said that the village is gathering information on the subdivisions to provide to Village Attorney Cary Horvath, who will then report back. Horvath has been presented with the first packet, on Cypress Pointe, and the village plans to continue to deliver one or two unfinished subdivision packets to Horvath a week, Davis said at the workshop.